Recently Brion Toss a well respected Pacific Northwest Yacht Rigger and author of several books on yacht rigging had a contest to find a knot that might not be as well known as the Bowline but worthy of more people being aware of it.

I entered the contest and won, please see below for Brion’s original question and my winning answer.

This week’s Puzzle will be a little different: instead of asking you some tricky rigging question, I want you to convince me that you have the best answer to the following:

What is the best knot? The Bowline is called the King of Knots, but it has its limitations, and might be overrated. So what other knot would you nominate as a usurper? What other knot do you think is the most valuable, versatile, important knot? It need not have the same function as a Bowline, or any function at all. It is the knot that you think would make the world a measurably better place if only more people knew about it, a knot that, in your mind, deserves fame and glory.

It can be some currently obscure arborist’s complication, or an undeservedly unknown theater knot, or it might be already well-known, afloat and ashore, but not well-known enough to suit you. Tell us about it! Sell it! Send pictures, or links to videos, if you like! The answers will be reviewed by a panel of experts, amateurs, and hangers-on. Entries will be judged on eloquence, ferocity, hilarity, and (utterly subjective) value.

I use this sometimes at public boating safety events as a display to get people to stop a moment since the Hitch looks like a mess but when I demo the Hitch people’s jaws just sort of drop open with a “I didn’t know this – WOW – never seen this – but know where I can use it”

I use it on my winches when they need to be used for mooring lines, and it does not jam under load and does not put any rotation on a winch so the pawls are not under load

See below for a link to my web site for more info and how to tie it.

Do I get extra credit for having found it in one of Brion’s books – the small one Chapman’s Knots?